Meeting between Zinbiel and the Stahl
This meeting took place during turn 9. The two Dolphin tamers were named Ariel and Aqua, but both hated their unoriginal water based birth names, so they changed them to Refaeli and Giselle. “I hear you are Rak, the one who order us to be here.” Edu already told them of their mission, but it was always good to engage in small talk. “Go North.”Was the only response they got. Rak didn’t care that they were women, he woudl give them the same cold shoulder and short sentences as everyone else. The girls rolled their eyes and left. The ship was supposed to escort them, but they knew that the ship was more of a liability. The goal was to go due north and see if they could find any help. A longish period of time ago the sphere showed images of villages run by non- Zinbielians. No one thought it was remotely possible, and thus the sphere’s use was in a decline. However desperate times called for drastic measures, and thus they were sent were no Zinbielian had ever gone. It was a fairly smooth ride for Giselle and Refaeli, riding and taming took no energy, but it was quite the trek for their dolphins. When they finally came to land their pod had decreased to basically two functioning dolphins but they had started to fatigue as well. This ment Giselle and Refaeli were on their own, and they had no way to defend themselves. It was too late to wait for the ship, maybe they had been rash to leave without it, and after all there is no telling who or what could be out here. Either they were alone, or someone else was out there. Both were equally terrifying ideas. The forward scouting party, compromised of two Steelborn guards accompanying a Copperborn cartographer, were stunned. They had met the Skaldeans, and he'll even the ones called the Stormborn were similar enough. But never had the expected the ocean to be this crushin' big. Or for there to be animals in it, or for OTHER PEOPLE to be riding those animals. They did little but stare agape. The shorter female Steelborn guard gave a small wave. Giselle gave a wave back, but more out of confusion than anything else. Large shiny men were not exactly what they had in mind. However, their dolphins were too tired to keep swimming forcing Giselle and Refaeli into an approach. The distant figures did appeared man like and they did wave,, so maybe they were friendly, but the imposing figure and solid features were quite worrisome. Regardless there was no way to avoid contact. As the pair dismounted their dolphins, they immediately collapsed to the ground. Sea legs had gotten the better of them, which put them in the awkward situation of appearing to bow. They remained in a kneeling position for a few moments not wanting to seem rude or weak. Upon standing they extended their hands and pointed to each other "Giselle." "Rafaeli." Who knows what language the shiny men speak Welp. Chansu would have a quite a report to make. The newcomers seems friendly enough, and far too tired to pose any threat to her or her steel guards. She noticed the extended hand was still wet, and she shook her head politely, gesturing to the ocean then drawing a finger across her throat. "Chansu" she said pointing to herself, "Irdul... Chagan" she pointed to the stout steel woman and tall steel man behind her. Sh picked up a small stone by the shore, wary not to step in the sand for fear of getting stuck. She crunches it in her powerful jaw, and offered one to them. She knew it wouldn't work for them, but it seemed a good way to establish some sort of relation. "Where did you come from?" she said slowly, head cocked to the side as she offered to stone. The Steelborn man pulled out the map gingerly, careful of its fragility. He gestured to them, and pointed out the position of their forward camp The whole ordeal was breathe taking. Giselle and Refeali coud barely keep up with what not to believe. First the people were so shiny. Then they eat rocks, but what really caught them of guard was that they spoke roughly the same language. Granted Zinbiel was very very old so maybe the two had done business in the past. While all of this was shocking the real kicker was the map. The accuracy and detail in each line. It was so detailed they could point to the current meeting location. Refaeli scanned the map quickly and vaguly pointed to an area south of where they were. She honestly couldn't recognize zinbiel even if it was on the map because of the details. In a desperate attempt to start relevent small talk Giselle akwardly asked "Do you like birds." The Stahl just gave a sideways look. It was indeed an odd question. Giselle wasn't sureif they understood so she repeated it a little slower "Do. You. Like. Birds?" "I think they got it." Refaeli was the only one to respond. She then faced the steelborn. "We need help. Our young nation is under constant attack from birds. We would fight them ourselves but our people are lazy fucks. We have many goods to trade." She realized it was a little direct but every second was precious. "Birds?" Chansu probed "I don't think we particularly like them. We can kill them I'd bet. They can't tear through living metal can they?" The Steelborn snickered at the thought of fighting birds. They were only accustomed to the occasional eagle or small bird overhead. "Surely a sling would suffice!" The shirt woman steelguard chuckled. "Careful they might poop on us..." The tall man added "Will you two shut it?!" Chansu flustered. She didn't want to offend the newcomers. It was widely unheard of for the long-gang to allow Steelborn to fight for foreigners, they'd have to hold a council upon her report. "I'm sure we can work something out, you are lucky you found me and not a scouting party. They are a little... Rougher around the edges." They began the march to the camp. "I'm sure they'll agree to aide in the face of prospective trade agreements. It'll take about a week of deliberation and politics however." She smirked at the foreigners. "But if bet three tasty rocks you get your troops." Category:Nationbuilder VII Trade Meetings